‘Are you ready for Spotify: The Game Show?’ asked a report on MBW earlier this week. Insert your own jokes based on ‘Jeopardy’, ‘The Price Is Right’ and/or ‘Deal Or No Deal’ here, obviously.
The story is based on a job ad for a ‘Reality Formats Lead’ at Spotify, working on reality podcast development for Spotify Studios “including but not limited to: game shows, dating/romance, self-improvement, competition, etc”. The role will also include “shopping fully realized IP to television networks while leveraging existing and new relationships with talent and premium networks”. Cue the ‘game show’ speculation.
The job ad made Music Ally think of another angle too, however. Wondery, the podcast production studio that recently signed a partnership with Universal Music, had one of its biggest hits with the Dirty John podcast – a true-crime story. It has since become a TV show on Bravo in the US, distributed through Netflix elsewhere in the world. So: podcast-to-TV is starting to be a viable path for original documentary formats, and there’s money in global licensing of this nature.
As much as podcasts are mainly playing a strategic role for Spotify as it tries to attract more listeners (and advertising) from radio, as it develops new podcasts in-house, “shopping fully realized IP to television networks” could be a viable new income stream for the company.
Music Ally’s next Learn Live webinar will help you understand what’s required for artists to thrive in new international markets!